Months after the death of her husband, a woman named Vera has a dream of a young couple named Brauer and Elemi, who walk hand-in-hand in Central Park. Vera wakes and notes how realistic her dream was, then joins her sixteen-year-old daughter, Jean, in the kitchen for coffee. Together, they wonder when Freddy, Vera’s son, will write home from college.   On the bus to work, Vera slips into a shallow nap and dreams of Brauer and Elemi touring an apartment overlooking Central Park and deciding to take it. Then, they return to the park again, buying frankfurters and orange drinks to share.  At work, a coworker named Will presses Vera to get drinks with him. He grows upset when she refuses, demanding to know what is wrong with him and how she could refuse him when he kept her company as she grieved for her late husband. To appease him, Vera asks if he wants to get lunch the next day, and Will says maybe he will have time next week.  In the weeks that follow, Vera continues to dream of Brauer and Elemi, and people tell her she has begun to look radiant. Vera’s son, Freddy, returns home with a friend named Thomas for Easter vacation and acts more kindly to his sister. However, Jean has a breakdown at the idea that no one will ever fall in love with her. To cope, Vera thinks of Brauer and Elemi again and again. When Will again becomes upset that Vera does not want to get drinks with him, Vera realizes that she is too afraid to lose a lover again— but with Brauer and Elemi, nothing matters.  One night, however, as Vera is falling asleep, she realizes that Brauer and Elemi are making love. She panics, not wanting them to do so, and worries that Brauer is hurting Elemi. Although she does not want to see, she eventually gives in and watches them, powerless over their actions, and she thinks to herself that they will never stop.